I’ve never read a mother/daughter relationship quite like this one–it’s honest, true, and utterly beautiful. Girls Made of Snow and Glass is an incredibly story of discovering your potential, family, and love that I fell in love with.

Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale

At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

So we all know how much I love a good fantasy, especially one that is all about girl power and family and character development. Those are the books that are my EVERYTHING and I adore reading them.

Well, guess what?

THIS BOOK IS ONE OF THOSE.

Basically, Girls Made of Snow and Glass focuses on the relationship between Mina and Lynet and how it changes with Lynet getting control of the South of the kingdom, a piece of land that Mina used to control. Mina, an incredibly complex character who made this book just SHINE, relishes the power that the South provides her, and feels threatened by Lynet.

This idea–power being threatened by another character–is the basis of many fantasy novels, but what makes this book unique is that this power struggle is between a step-mother and teenager daughter. Further complicating the circumstances is the fact that Mina is basically Lynet’s mother, since Lynet’s mother died during childbirth. I loved seeing how as the story goes on Mina and Lynet are forced to understand a different side of one another, something I can relate to. It’s the same kind of transformation you experience when you go to college or move out–exploring what a relationship with your parents as an adult is like. This new, very tenuous relationship, exposes secrets and one another’s true colors, and Mina and Lynet must decide how far they will each go for what they want.

Essentially this book is freaking awesome.

OKAY NOW I NEED TO TALK ABOUT MINA BECAUSE I LOVE HER. She is complex and flawed and makes horrible mistakes and yet you want her to be better. You want her to succeed and to understand that YES YOU CAN BE LOVED MINA DON’T GIVE UP LITTLE SNOWFLAKE. There’s this raw side of her that craves love just like anyone does, and then there’s this side of her that wants to be queen, and the dichotomy between the two is perfectly balanced.

Mina is a badass and I love her, as flawed as she is.

AND LYNET!!!!!!!

Lynet reminds me of this corgi gif:

She gains control of the South and then is like WOAH THERE which goes against what most fantasy heroines do and I LOVED IT. She doesn’t know if she really wants to be princess or even queen, and she has to figure that out for herself. Lynet spends most of the book trying to figure out who she is–not who she is as her mother or her father’s daughter, but who she is as Lynet, something I think most people can relate to. Lynet’s story is one of self-discovery.

And then there’s the tiny TINY romance (it’s basically non-existent) which I loved. But it wasn’t the romance itself I loved, it was how insignificant of a part it played in the story. It’s not important to the story line at all, really, which is so uncommon in fantasy, especially when it’s female-centered and I just adored that. GIVE ME MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS PLZ.

here is me attacking the other books like this that must exist that i need to find:

SO MY THOUGHTS IN A NUTSHELL:

GO BUY THIS BOOK THE DAY IT COMES OUT IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND #CONFIRMED

thanks for putting up with the corgi gifs i’m just really in a corgi mood right now

I love the corgi gifs haha!! I love retellings and I love how dark and interesting this one sounds, so glad you loved it! I have it on hold at my library, can’t wait for it to come out next month! I’m a huge fan of complex characters and relationships. Awesome review 🙂

Amanda @ Vivalabooks

OMG I recently got approved for this on NetGalley & I cannot wait to read it!! I was already pumped, but this sounds like it has everything I love!!!

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